Hi Friends!
Do you still have your Christmas decorations up? I thought about keeping our tree up until February, and then covering it in hearts and pink loveliness for Valentine’s Day. However, we had a glorious rainy day this past Saturday, and Mark and I decided it was time to put everything away. We had the back door open and listened to the rain as we took the decorations down. It was lovely 🙂
Apart from the lovely atmosphere, I did feel some sadness taking our decorations down. Mark’s grandfather passed away in October, and somehow keeping the tree up made me feel like time was standing still and that he hadn’t been gone for very long. I think about how he won’t be around in person to see the rest of our lives, to meet our children, or to create new memories with us. Even as I say this, I remind myself that he has visited us numerous times since his passing, and I know he is still part of our lives – just in a different way. Being a psychic medium has enabled me to see him in our home, talk to him in my dreams, hear his voice, and see signs from him many times. As grateful as I am for the connection we still have, it just isn’t the same as being with him in person.
But back to our decorations…
The apartment Mark and I are in now is the first place we have made feel like home. In the other apartments, I knew we wouldn’t be there long, so we didn’t bother to fully decorate and paint the walls. Our home now is fully, beautifully, brightly, colorfully decorated. Part of having a homey home to me is decorating for the holidays, so it was really important to me that we have a fully decorated tree. We even made ornaments! We bought lots of felt and designed our own gnome ornaments. They took a while, so we stopped after 3. Mark calls them our “2013 Collection” 🙂 So to extend our Christmas time just a little bit longer, I’ve decided to share our ornaments with you!
This is my girly gnome ornament…
She seems a peaceful, quiet type. She likes to read books and tell stories. She’s kind and soft-spoken. I’m thinking I’ll name her Marissa. I just looked up the meaning, and Marissa means “of the sea.” Nice!
Mark made this cutie gnome…
I LOVE his nose! Mark says, “This is Henry the gnome. He is very proud of his beard and always keeps it well-groomed. His favorite color is blue, so he always wears his blue suit. He’s a good husband, and enjoys skinny-dipping in the pond.” 😉
And now for the gnome house where they live…
I made this little mushroom house for our gnomey friends. It’s called The Pickle House. We know it doesn’t look like a pickle, but Henry The Gnome overheard two children having a picnic talking about how wonderful pickles are, and Henry thinks his home is wonderful too, so that’s why he called it The Pickle House. If he had to choose, it would be a sweet Pickle House, rather than a dill Pickle House, because sweet people live there 🙂
And just one more to show you…
Mark’s mom calls me “Duvie” as a shortened version of daughter-in-love.
(We prefer in-love to in-law.)Â
This is our monkey ornament, and it’s the first one we put on our tree. Mark’s mother gave it to us for Christmas last year. At that time we were vagabonds, but I had just started craving a place where we could settle down and create a home together. When she gave us this ornament, the wish for our own home somewhere was so strong in my heart, but at the same time, it seemed like it wouldn’t happen anytime soon. A year later, I had tears of joy when I hung it on our tree. Our home. Our beautiful Christmas tree. My dream – even though I had no idea how it would happen or where we would end up – came true! I am so thankful. You just never know what is going to happen in life. Something can seem impossible or obstacles insurmountable one day, and the next everything works out better than you could have even imagined.
Thank you for extending Christmas just a little longer with me!
Sending you lots of love,
Melanie Jade 🙂
